Game Project Studio 1
Dante's Trial
Dante Trial was my first major project in my degree programme. As the lead designer I took charge to come up with the game concept, narrative, gameplay, level layout, mechanics and audio. This was my first experience working on a major semester project.
Concept & Narrative
After going through Dante's Divine Comedy (Poem), I had the idea of turning it into a comedic-horror video game. It had the perfect setting for a local co-op platformer style game. The game is about Dante and his disciple's journey in hell.
Gameplay
Dante's Trial is a local co-op party platformer. I wanted the game to have fast paced gameplay, with linear progression. Players can interact with the environment by jumping, attacking other players, and using a unique mechanic from different parts of the game.
Level Design
Each level represents a stage/ring from Dante's version of hell. The levels were different from each other, and had a unique mechanic that players can use/interact with. As a designer I made the mockups of the level in Photoshop which includes the layout and location of relevant items. It had everything the team needed to implement it into the game engine. Ideally, I wanted 9 levels which represent the 9 rings of hell, but due to insufficient time we had to scale it down.
Mechanics
As mentioned above, the core mechanics are the basic platformer movement mechanics. Ideally I wanted to implement a unique environmental mechanic into each level, which adds more depth into the overall level design.
Audio
Initially the game had a serious tone, due to the texts it was based from. After a few team discussions, the direction of the game changed into a more of a comedic-horror direction. Therefore, the game audio was made to support that. I believe I did a good job with the audio design, capturing the tone.